Every Superheroine Needs A Friend
by allya373
Summary: Chloe Bourgeois, secret alter ego of Queen Bee, discovers that having a Guy In The Chair is actually pretty useful...if he would actually stay in the chair, that is.


"You're lucky to be alive," Chloe sighed, shaking her head. "What were you thinking?"

Nathaniel smiled ruefully.

"You wouldn't have been able to get out of the way in time," he said. "And anyways, the miraculous cure fixed everything in the end, didn't it?"

"That's not the point!: she insisted. "It's my job to save you, not the other way around!"

"Save me or save the city?" he asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. Chloe huffed in frustration.

"You know what I mean! Running around and putting yourself in dangerous situations is only going to make it harder for me to help protect other people."

"You wouldn't have been able to transform if I hadn't taken the hit, so was I really making it that much more difficult?" he pointed out.

"You put one more stress on top of my already overwhelming list," she informed him. "Now if you would just stay out of trouble, maybe I'd have the mental capacity to do other important things."

"If you weren't so careless with your secret identity, maybe I wouldn't be so involved," he countered. "I'm the only one who knows who you really are, so keeping your civilian identity a secret is partly my responsibility, too. And that includes making it possible for you to transform when there's an akuma."

"You literally took four grenades because you couldn't yell at me in time!"

"I'm just not a very vocal person," Nathaniel shrugged. "Also, you were about to transform in front of almost ten people, including the supervillain themself. You really need to work on finding better places to transform."

"Stop changing the subject," she said. "I'm saying you have to be less reckless!"

He paused and blinked at her.

"I was only trying to help you. If I'm that much of an inconvenience, I guess I won't bother-"

"I was worried about you, okay?" she cut him off, flushing ever-so-slightly. "I really appreciate you trying to help me, but putting yourself in danger like that scares me a lot."

"You were worried about me? But...why?" he asked, confused.

Chloe groaned.

"I don't know, I just, ugh..." she tried. "I guess it's just, after you found out it was me, you didn't hate me or push me away or anything, when you discovered who I really was behind the mask. And then you're putting yourself in danger for _me,_ and...I guess I'm just not used to people caring about me like that..."

Nathaniel softened.

"Chloe..."

"Don't," she stopped him, looking up to meet his eyes. "Just...try to take care of yourself, okay? I'm a superheroine, an amateur one, but I'm trying. You, on the other hand," she pointed at him, "are a civilian who does not have magical superpowers or a super suit, and so you should think twice before doing things like that."

"Man, it sure must be nice to have a miraculous," he sighed.

"It is, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility," she said. "And I'm probably failing at fulfilling mine..."

"I'm helping you, though...aren't I?" Nathaniel asked curiously.

"Of course!" Chloe responded immediately. "You have no idea how relieving it is to not be hiding a huge secret all by myself. And I'm not the smoothest at times, so you definitely help me there," she admitted. "Like causing distractions so I can get away to transform."

"Yeah," he agreed, flushing slightly at the memory of throwing an all-out fit at the supposed disappearance of his sketchbook, only to find it in the art room ten minutes later. "So, basically, I'm the Ned to your Peter Parker."

"The who?" the blonde asked, lost.

"Nevermind," he waved off. "I'll show you someday. Anyways, I guess this means I'll be hanging out with you a lot more. Does that make us..."

"Friends?" Chloe finished with equal hesitation. "I guess so...I mean, only if you..."

"Works for me," he decided. "Secretly, obviously. It'll be too suspicious of Chloe Bourgeois suddenly has a friend after she caused another akumatization."

"Hey! I'm trying, okay!" she protested.

"Sorry, but you know what I mean," he said. She nodded reasonably.

"Secret friends," she confirmed.

"Secret friends," he agreed.

And they parted their separate ways, both nearly bursting with the contained joy and satisfaction of having finally reached a long-due milestone in life: mutual friendship.


End file.
